Companies and Intellectual Property Commission

Deregistering/Closing your Company

A business can be referred for deregistration upon request from the company or close corporation or any other third party, provided that the company or close corporation has ceased to carry on business; and has no assets or, because of the inadequacy of its assets, there is no reasonable probability of the company or close corporation being liquidated.

Deregistration will also be triggered when two or more successive annual returns are outstanding, in which case the company or close corporation will be automatically referred by the system and then notified by registered mail or alternative electronic methods of communication. The contact details as per the Commission records will be used to communicate the deregistration. If your contact details are outdated or incorrect, the Commission is not liable if you have not received such notification before deregistration.

Companies and close corporations are responsible for informing the Commission of contact details to ensure that they receive relevant notifications and reminders.

To deregister your company or close corporation, follow these steps:

Write a letter to CIPC

The letter must include the following statement confirming that:

The company or close corporation is not carrying on business or is dormant; and

Has no assets, or because of the inadequacy of its assets, that there is no reasonable probability of the close corporation being liquidated (if third party, the statement must be supplemented with sufficient documentary proof confirming the statement);

If the company or close corporation submits the request, the letter must be signed by at least 50% of the active directors of the company or members of the close corporation, or otherwise by the third party who is requesting the deregistration; and

Tax number (if available).

Prepare supporting information

CIPC will be unable to proceed with the changes unless the following supporting documentation is attached to the letter:

Tax clearance certificate or any other written confirmation from SARS that no tax liability is outstanding;

Certified ID copy of any of the persons signing the letter wherein deregistration is requested;

If a third party is applying for the deregistration, documentary proof must be submitted confirming the statement that:

the company or close corporation is not carrying on business or is dormant and

has no assets, or because of the inadequacy of its assets, that there is no reasonable probability of the company being liquidated (if third party, the statement must be supplemented with sufficient documentary proof confirming the statement).

Scan and e-mail

Note: Full finalisation of deregistration is dependent on statutory advertisement process which is 3 months.

After completion of the deregistration process, the final deregistration notice will be posted to the person requesting the deregistration.

The service turnaround time: 10 working days from the date of tracking the application to process the deregistration request. To complete the entire deregistration process (notifications to interested parties) takes 3 calendar months, whereafter a notification will be posted to the applicant (called a final deregistration letter). CIPC also publishes a list of all entities that have been finally deregistered on its website.

If you did not receive the final deregistration notification after 4 months, please send a query to us by going to “Enquiries” and select the correct option.

You can track the progress of your document by clicking on "Track my transactions" on the home page. Click on “Additional Services”, select “Customers” and then select “Document Status”. To check the tracking number, go to “Customer Transactions” under “Customers”.

To cancel the deregistration of your business, follow these steps:

Write a letter to CIPC

The letter must clearly state the reason for objecting to the deregistration and such must be submitted to the CIPC before the date the company or close corporation is finally deregistered. If the company or close corporation was finally deregistered, the company or close corporation must apply for re-instatement. No supporting documents are required to object to the deregistration.

It should be noted that this process cannot be used if the reason for the deregistration is non compliance with annual returns. If the company or close corporation was referred for deregistration due to non compliance with annual returns, the deregistration process will only be cancelled upon the filing of all outstanding annual returns.

You can track the progress of your document by clicking on "Track my transactions" on the home page. Click on “Additional Services”, select “Customers” and then select “Document Status”. To check the tracking number, go to “Customer Transactions” under “Customers”.